case study Ambient Wood

see page 723. Design Focus: ambient wood - augmenting the physical

Ambient Wood is an innovative educational experience exploring how biological
ideas can be learnt in a real environment augmented by technology.

In a wood near Sussex University a group of school children gather for
a day of activities. The children divide into pairs and each pair are
given a PDA, a light and moisture probe and a small walkie-talkie so that
they can communicate with a facilitator.

The probe can be pointed into the air, placed into the ground, pressed
against the bark of trees ... or even poked into noses - and produces
a simple display of the light and moisture levels on its screen.

Although the children do not realise this at the time, all the readings
they make are being recorded through a wireless network and the probes
are equipped with GPS so that the location of each reading is also recorded.

As the children walk through the wood they pass near wireless beacons.
Passing these may trigger messages and information to appear. Passing
one beacon they hear a strange slurping sound - a massively amplified
recording of a butterfly sucking nectar!

At
one point in the wood the children find a strange contraption shaped rather
like an old hat-rack or a small metallic twiggy tree. This is the 'periscope'.
It is used for seeing things that are normally unseen (one of the strengths
of virtual reality - see ch. 20, p.738).

The form of the device was designed by partners from the Royal College
of Art trying to capture some of the sense of symbiosis between technology
and the organic environment of the wood. (see /e3/casestudy/arts/
for more about the interaction between technology and the arts.)

Inside the hood of the periscope is a small computer screen and this
is controlled by the 'handles' of the periscope. Moving the handles from
side to side pans a virtual view of the wood. Twisting them makes the
image move up and down. This is a rather odd mix of virtual and augmented
realities. The periscope is set in the real environment and portrays a
virtual view of the environment, but you can only see the real environment
'round the side of' not through the image. Children would walk behind
the periscope and expect that their friends could see them in the virtual
image. Although our lives are filled with technology, we are still cognitively
'built' for the real world and find it hard to adjust to these half-real
situations (see also ch. 18, p. 653 on 'natural'
cognition).

Around
the periscope itself are small petri dishes containing various natural
objects: a spider, some fungi, etc. Each item is marked with an RFID tag.
One of the dishes has an RFID reader and when the items are placed on
this they are detected. The virtual image then shows the ecological effect
of adding the organism to the habitat.

This
exploratory investigation allows the children to build complex understandings
of the rich ecological web including the fragility of habitats. This is
a form of constructive learning where the children are able to actively
create their own individual knowledge structures.

Constructive learning theories usually emphasise the importance of authentic
situations. The wood provides just this, but of course it is impossible
(or at least inadvisable) actually to introduce new species and watch
their effect on the environment. The technology serves therefore not to
substitute for a real situation, but to make possible investigations that
would otherwise be impossible and do so in as contextual a manner as feasible.

Within
the wood is a tent, 'the den', where the children gather at the end of
the session to discuss their findings. The den contains computer displays
and various augmented materials.

The light and moisture readings they have taken are plotted on a map
of the wood and the children are able to look for patterns - for example,
is the level of moisture in the earth higher or lower near trees.

Notice how the children engage in data collection, hypothesis generation
and testing - the key elements of scientific investigation - both while
in the wood taking readings and also back in the den comparing and collating
results.

Also this scientific thinking is not taking place alone. Both in pairs
in the wood and as a class back in the den they are explaining their own
ideas and understanding to one another as well as hearing each others
thoughts. This collaborative learning obviously allows each child to benefit
from the groups as a whole. However more important is that the process
of explaining to others engenders reflective thinking ... not just learning
things, but thinking about the knowledge. This reflection is an important
aspect what is called meta-cognition, the higher-level thinking that allows
us to learn better throughout our lives.

Some
aspects of the technology in the Ambient Wood are very clear to the children:
the PDAs, the probes, the walkie-talkies, the periscope, the display back
in the den. But behind the scenes there is even more at work. In the trees
and scattered around the wood were numerous computers and pieces of electronics.

The computers communicate via standard WaveLAN wireless networks (802.11b)
as used in many offices, airports, etc. This is fairly standard technology,
but the wood is not a standard environment: the natural environment of
the wood is inimical to wireless networks!

The wood seems a very open environment compared to the walls and ceilings
of a building, but the leaves and wood of the trees are 90% water and
water absorbs the radio waves. It is impossible to have just a few wireless
base stations that talk to everything and all the computers had to be
set up to relay wireless messages to one another. Even then they had to
be placed below the leaf canopy as in summer the leaves blot out radio
transmission at even very short range.

The
Ambient Wood's technology doesn't just depend on computers, behind the
scenes also a group of technicians were constantly working to keep the
various aspects of the wood running ... not least literally running around
between outside sessions replacing the batteries in the many, many devices
... the wood doesn't come equipped with mains electricity.

Whilst this level of support is acceptable for experiments; it will be
some time before the technology is mature enough to allow easy deployment
of this sort of rich educational environment.